1st in 24 years: India’s main opposition Congress elects president outside Gandhi dynasty

India’s biggest opposition Congress party has broken from its dynastic norms to elect its first president in 24 years who is not from the Nehru-Gandhi family. With the election of 80-year-old Mallikarjun Kharge as the new leader on October 19, 2022, the party hopes to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has often called the Congress a “family-run” business.